1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ergonomically designed chair for, inter alia, enabling convenient use of the latest wireless computer keyboard technology. More particularly, the present invention relates to an ergonomically designed chair having a keyboard support arrangement that is adjustable to individual workers, and which may be stored within the armrests of the chair when the keyboard is not in use.
2. Background of the Invention
With the recent arrival of "the information age," the need has increased for workers in many fields to use computers to assist them in widely differing types of work. Not only have the numbers of workers using computers greatly increased, the amount of time a typical worker spends per day using a computer has greatly increased as well. Therefore, issues relating to worker comfort have taken on much greater importance. This is particularly true of the issue of prevention of long term injury to workers from radiation, especially to the eyes, from computer monitors, and wrist and arm strains such as carpal tunnel syndrome from repeated keyboard use.
Another trend in computer use has been towards two or more workers sharing the same computer. This is especially true of businesses having 24 hour operations, such as technical support or customer service, or international operations spanning differing time zones. The same computer may be used by several people on different shifts to avoid the waste of buying unnecessary computers. This has created additional comfort issues for workers of differing sizes and shapes using the same workstations with fixed keyboard adjustments.
Further, with the advent of wireless keyboard technology, the keyboard operator has been freed from the necessity of being in close proximity to his or her computer and monitor when giving keyboard commands. As a consequence, separate support arrangements divorced from the usual desk setup for the computer keyboard are useful in many environments and considerations such as space savings and aesthetic appearance make keyboard support arrangements that can be stowed out of sight increasingly attractive. Of course, with a common pair of keyboard and mouse extension cables, a non-wireless keyboard and mouse can also be used with the present invention as described below.
There have been attempts in the prior art to address some of these issues. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,706 to Bryan discloses a chair with vertically adjustable arms and foldable support tables on which a keyboard may be placed. The adjustment mechanism in the Bryan patent is such that the keyboard can only be adjusted in a vertical direction, which is not always sufficient to allow a user to locate the keyboard in a comfortable position. Further, the twin support tables do not provide support to the entire keyboard, so that the keyboard is in some danger of sliding or falling off the small supports. In addition, the keyboard must be removed whenever the user wishes to leave the chair, which can be a time consuming and awkward task, and increases the risk of damage to the keyboard.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a chair that includes a stowable keyboard support arrangement and which is capable of independently supporting a computer keyboard while providing a wide range of adjustment of the keyboard location to suit the needs of each individual user.